The Misfortunate Hero
by Fifth Angel
Summary: The summoning ritual, a very complex and very hard to do magic. Using this is basically like playing russian roulette with yourself and whoever it is who you were going to use it against. In the vast universe full of colorful people, you might accidentally summon a psychotic Japanese swordsman, or a cynical gluttonous bookworm. Basically, don't expect too much.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

Legends come and go, they happen and then they are forgotten, but if there is one kind of legend that always seem to pass the test of time, and that would be the legend of heroes, people of different civilizations always enjoyed telling them.

In front of the camp fires and in their homes, passing it from father to son, grandfather to grandson, it is entirely up to them if they want to believe if all of it was real or not.

And of all the ballads and epics out there, there is one that specifically stands out.

One that has had people debated if it was actually true, or just the over-glorification of one very admired person.

A tale many have said to be just 'too ridiculous to be true'.

The story of an average young boy, he wasn't the offspring of some god, nor given blessings by any goddess.

He helped and saved people not because he was made to, or forced into doing so, he wasn't even obliged to do so.

It was all just simple coincidences, he was at the right place at the right time, or coming from others, at the wrong place at the wrong time.

For him, you don't need a reason to help someone; you only need a strong resolve.

He wasn't good with any weapons, shield or sword.

He wore no armor.

He held no enchantments.

Know no arts.

But how did he defeat the enemies? Many have asked.

Magic? He wasn't well versed in it.

Diplomacy? Far from it, there was one account made by a known individual of the boy being way too talkative when it comes to someone with a different ideal than him, though it always ends with less than peaceful results.

He was just a normal person, with a very particular set of skills, and a very colorful set of companions.

And a cheat ability that made him known throughout history.

A power that can defeat anything.

A power than can kill gods.

A power many has said to be just made up.

Understandable, a power that can easily kill dragons and demons was already stretching it, and beating a god was just too much to be believed by anyone.

A summoned hero.

 _The shield hero without a shield._

One of the many names that he was called as, a name that pretty much suits him.

He protected people without expecting anything in return, and most of all, without anything to protect himself against it. Just himself and his own strength.

But if there is one thing that everyone agrees on about the certain hero, scholars and plebes alike. And that would be the name he was most known as, a name that fits him even more than ' _the shield hero without a shield_ ' epithet.

 **The misfortunate hero.**

And every story has a beginning. No matter how unbelievable it sounds.

* * *

 _"Heroes aren't born, nor made. They are realized."_

 **-Mark Twain**


	2. A Royally messed up Summoning

**Chapter 1: A royally messed up summoning**

* * *

Kamijou Touma stared blankly at the person in front of him.

A european man wearing pompous clothes with a matching beard, a golden crown with a big red crystal on the middle of it was on his head. The crown obviously makes him the highest ranking person in the room.

An air of superiority was emanating from him, which made the unfortunate boy inwardly gulp.

Glancing around, there were also other people, though, not as blatantly dressed in royalty like the guy in the middle.

They seem to be guards wearing medieval armor. And also a lot of people in robes.

What is this? An initiation party or something?

Looking around some more, he noticed that he was in some kind of extravagant chamber/hall or whatever. There were other people behind him. Mostly of the same age. They had different hair colors, they looked like foreigners, but they still felt very japanese.

Until he noticed a certain someone.

Eh?

In the middle of the group, like some idiot, a very familiar acquaintance was posing, both of his hands were on his waist, while his feet was far a part to each other.

A person he had met once, someone he could never forgot, which is an achievement in itself, judging from his track records.

A similar set of spiky hair with a white bandana on his forehead. The rising sun insignia slapped onto his white shirt. His blazer swaying from the wind, like they weren't even indoors.

A single name popped up into his head when he smiled at him, it was a smile filled with youthful passion. He frowned inwardly at this.

"Gunha!?"

It seems that made his smile grow even wider. A very cheeky grin at that.

"Long time no see! Gutsy Dragon Man!"

He gave a thumbs up.

Seriously?

An angry tick mark appeared on Kamijou's head.

"Long time!? We just met a while ago! And don't call me that! And what the hell is going on?!"

The misfortunate boy shouted a retort, he could only shake his head at the current predicament he was in. A predicament he was sure that it had to do something with the very energetic boy.

And how did all this happen you ask?

Well it happened a few hours ago.

* * *

Touma sighed in misfortune.

He had just missed a sale on one of the grocery stores he usually goes to, and because of that he was forced to buy the more expensive ones, lest he wants to anger the almighty angry biting god in his dorm.

Some had it lucky, while others(specifically himself) did not. Some have a cool cyborg companion, he had a loli nun.

Contemplating the maintenance cost of the two in his head, a random idea popped up.

Maybe he should shave his head and see what happens.

Not gonna happen.

It was already nighttime.

Slightly shifting his head upwards, the moon glared at him, like he was the only person in the world.

Sighing for the up tenth time again he could only trudge towards his dorm, carrying in both hands his precious groceries. Hoping to whatever that likes to make his life more miserable to leave him be just for today.

And just like that, an explosion came in the building besides him.

Oh come on!

The force of the blow flung him to the other side of the street, and like any sane individual who just got thrown off by an explosion, the first thing that came to his head was...

"My groceries!"

Touma could only crawl towards the plastic bags, ignoring the pain that was now coursing through his body, and what he saw would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life, or maybe a few weeks. Probably until he gets his monthly allowance.

"My precious proteins!"

He shouted towards the heavens while holding the egg carton with both of his hands like it was some kind of sacrifice, the gooey insides of it flowed outside of the carton and onto his hands.

Not minding it one bit. The boy closed his eyes and cried anime tears.

"Why...Why!"

Because of his overreactive act, Kamijou didn't notice the man walking casually out from what remained of the building that just exploded.

He was wearing a black 'gakuran' uniform, even though he just came from an explosion, there was no sign of dust or burn marks on his clothes.

The man glanced upwards, not noticing the boy who was lamenting about his eggs on the other side of the street.

On top of one of the polls, a spiky haired kid was crouching, he was looking down at the man who had just caused an explosion. A white bandana on his head and the blazer that he wasn't even wearing properly was flowing from the wind, making him look like some kind of western comic hero.

A smile quickly formed on his face, as he had just witnessed what the man did.

"That was a pretty gutsy explosion."

He nodded.

The man on the other hand that was on the ground could only frown.

"And you're more faster than what I expected, nevertheless, your attacks wouldn't work on me!"

"Well then, how 'bout I use this!"

He jumped away from the pole.

"Amazing punch!"

Space seemed to distort from the fist of the young boy as he immediately closed in towards the guy.

The man raised an eyebrow at this action.

"You know, shouting your attacks before you actually strike isn't really a smart idea."

The man didn't move from his spot, he only raised both of his arms to guard the attack.

A loud shockwave happened next when the fist connected to the man, all the dust and grime in the surroundings flew off in the opposite direction.

What happened next confused the bandana wearing boy. For some reason, most of the force of his attack was lessened in a large degree. Normally, his 'Amazing punch!' could blow off an entire building easily.

His punch felt like it was softened a lot.

What the guts?

Though he immediately stopped his train of thoughts when he felt his surroundings heat up.

The boy quickly kicked off from the ground.

"Giga shield!"

Leaping into the air, a wall of warped space formed in front of the boy, acting as a shield or some sort, as everything else around him was engulfed in flames.

Another explosion has occurred!

Landing on the other side of the road unharmed, the boy gave off another smile.

"Now that's gutsy! Taking on my 'Amazing punch!' Head on!"

The boy gave a mock punch to the air, emphasizing how excited he was getting.

The man on the other side resisted to face palm.

"This is getting annoying, I'll just end this now."

He walked towards a still working light pole. The man raised his left hand up to his waist, and with a quick motion that would make any martial artist practitioner jealous, he pierced the metal sheet covering the wirings with ease.

The boy on the other side of the street could only watch in anticipation, curious on what his opponent was about to do.

Smiling, the man grabbed the electrical wires. And immediately, a huge blackout happened. All the lights around them disappeared, it seems all the electricity in the vicinity was sucked out.

Since the moon was out, it wasn't all that pitch black, they could still both see each other.

"Next, I'm going to use my 'Ultimate attack'."

The man stopped for a moment when he realized what he had just said.

"Damn it! Now you're making me say it!"

After taking his hands away from the pole he closed his eyes and went on some kind of pseudo praying stance.

"Last chance! Give 'it' to me, and I'll spare you the pain that's about to happen!"

No reply.

"Fine!"

After chanting a few words, he opened his eyes again. The irises seemingly glowing in the moonlight.

"Hyper chain Impact!... Wait No! What I meant is Gah! Who cares! Just die!"

A large beam of pure energy erupted from the ground, it conjugated in a large spherical form above the guy.

Clenching his fists, the hot blooded kid gave a very big grin.

"Well then, I guess I'll also use my even more special move."

Slamming both of his fists together in the speed of sound, it formed a small shockwave that rocked everything around him. But that wasn't the main attack he was going to do, it was just a precautionary thing he did when he uses the certain special attack.

"Super Awesome Mega Ultimat-..."

But before he could finish his pointless name ranting of his own special move, the man already finished forming the ball of light, with a flick of his fingers, it flew off in break neck speeds.

Now noticing this, the boy with the rising sun insignia gave a sweat drop. He still wasn't finish. Maybe it wasn't really such a good idea to name your special attack with such a very long-winded name.

Too late now, well whatever, he'll just have to take this attack like a man.

Standing his ground the boy yelled.

"Guts!"

The man gave a grin as he watched this unfold.

"This will teach you that life ain't a cartoon! Regret this in hell!"

But before the ball of light could even touch the boy, a single shadow appeared sprinting pass him, and towards the light.

With the ever present sound of glass breaking, the sphere distorted for a while, before it finally collapsed on itself, disappearing into nothingness.

Both of the combatants were surprised at this, the so called powerful attack just seemingly went poof out of nowhere.

Imagine Breaker finally makes an appearance.

"What the!?"

"Huh!?"

The man's eyes widened when he saw at what just happened to his attack.

A lone figure stood in the middle of the road, the area around him still smoking. His right hand raised in a defensive position, while his left hand was holding something.

"Eggs?"

The bandana wearing boy on the other side muttered.

Kamijou then lowered his right hand and raised the one holding the egg carton, pointing it to the man in the uniform.

"Where you the one that did this?"

The man stared at the carton of eggs silently, before silently mouthing anything.

"Eh?"

The boy increased his volume.

"I said! Where you the one that did this!?"

The man glanced behind him at the destroyed building and surroundings, and then proceeded to look back again towards the eggs, the man only had question marks forming in his head.

"A-are you talking about the eggs? Or... Pretty much everything else that got demolished?"

The spiky haired boy gritted his teeth.

"What do you think Einstein! Of course I'm talking about my eggs!"

He waved the egg carton around, emphasizing the point. The contents inside it splashed everywhere.

...

"Are you serious."

The boy clenched his right fist.

"You! You think this is a joke!"

The man narrowed his eyes.

"S-sorry, but are we on the same page here? Everything around you is pretty much totaled, and you're complaining about that!"

"Of course I am! Do you even know how hard it is for a lone broke high school student to feed a black hole!?"

"Excuse me? A black hole?"

Touma ruffled his hair in irritation.

"Gah! The more I stay here, the hungrier 'IT' gets, and the hungrier 'IT' gets, the more painful the punishment becomes!"

"Kid, you have issues."

"I can feel my head throbbing from the pain already!"

"Yeah... I don't know how you managed to block my attack, but this next one is sure to end you, so if you actually want to savor whatever's left of your eggs, then get out of my sight!"

"No! Not without my rightful compensation!"

Raising a mocking eyebrow, the man smirk.

"And what if I say no?"

Kamijou smiled back.

"Then give me your best shot."

With that the man fired another ball of light towards the boy.

The outcome was already obvious, Kamijou nonchalantly raised his right hand, and the projectile got destroyed. All accompanied with the usual sound of glass breaking.

That of course surprised the man again. Though this time, it only managed to piss him off.

"Y-you? H-how? How can you...!?"

"Blah! Blah! Blah! Is that all you can do!? Just talk!? Unlike you, Mr. Grocery-destroyer, I actually have a schedule! Today's a school night you know!? And I still have... things... to... do..."

A look of horror sprouted on his face, an emotion that can only ever mean one thing for the very misfortunate young boy.

Despair.

"Homework! I forgot about it! I still have homework to do for tomorrow!?"

He started to pull his hair due to stress.

...Flashback...

A boy and a girl stood alone in an empty classroom. The sun was slowly setting, the windows reflecting the reddish hue of the last rays of the sun for today.

Yes, this was the perfect scenario for any romantic situation.

It could signal the beginning for love to blossom in the airs of spring, or practically the opposite, and spell the doom for a broken heart.

Ah... Youth.

Though, this actually has nothing to do with any of that.

The two people who were standing idly in the classroom was an average looking high school boy and a little girl one might easily assume to be in elementary.

And it seems that the little girl was scolding the older of the two. Or so it might seem, but the truth is, it's pretty much the opposite.

"Kamijou-chan, if you don't pass your due assignments tomorrow, then you'll be force-...er... volunteered to participate in one of our inter-school community service programs, and this year our partner school is inside the school gardens! You're lucky that this is one of the very rare occasions where they actually let in male students."

Unassuming as it is, the little girl was his teacher, Komoe, said in a very cutsey manner that pretty much betrayed everything she had just said.

"Hey, you were just about to say 'forced' weren't you? Do I even have any say in this? And that's not being lucky! I'm just going to be used as a janitor for one of those rich bratty schools for women! And what's up with that very convenient plot point excuse of them being a-okay with letting boys in on this very same occasion. I call hacks on this one."

The boy wailed in protest.

"Ha ha ha, you're so silly, Kamijou-chan, this is completely 'vo-lun-ta-ry', if you don't want to go, then make sure to pass your assignment."

She waved her fingers accompanied with a wink to emphasize the point.

"There's nothing voluntary about that!"

...Flashback end...

Though, there were more to that, but the boy's flashback was interrupted by another flash of light. With the sound of glass breaking followed.

"Hey kid, you okay? You were just staring off to space just a while ago."

"Eh, ah, oh? Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about something."

The boy closed his eyes and scratched his head apologetically.

...

"And why the hell did you just attack me!? Couldn't you read the mood!? I was doing something!"

"Enough!"

The man waved his hand in annoyance, he was already irritated about that super hero wannabe, and now he has to deal with this idiot. And what's up with this city and weirdos with spiky hair?

"You know what? I don't care anymore. I'll just destroy everything."

He raised both of his hands.

Energy in the surroundings converged into one point above his.

He was now going to use one of his most powerful attack, an attack that would destroy everything in front of him. An attack he was confident enough to know that the boy with the mysterious powers wouldn't be able to block.

"Die you fu-gufuh!"

An unstoppable oh...

The man flopped to the ground face first. For a minute there Touma could have sworn that there was smoke coming from his head.

Behind the lifeless body was the bandana wearing boy. His left hand was raised in a karate chopping manner, while giving a very stern look at the fallen man.

"It's not gutsy to ignore your other opponent."

He then crossed his arms and silently nodded to no one.

"You know, it's also not 'gutsy' to hit people in the back."

Kamijou retorted with a blank face. He already had an inkling on who the boy was, there was only one person he knew in this world that says that certain word. Racking his brain for the info, one name popped up.

Even if there was no electricity, the moon still illuminated that painfully unique silhouette.

"Heh! Oh..."

Realizing what he just did, he casually scratched his nose with his finger.

"Well I guess. Mmmhh?"

Now noticing the person in front of him, a smile appeared on his face.

"Yo! Sogiita Gunha."

"Hey! You're that gutsy dragon man!"

Kamijou's eyes twitched a little when he heard that nickname.

"Dragon man?"

"Yeah! That's was pretty cool you know! I've never seen anyone do that before!"

Kamijou could only laugh at that. Remembering that certain incident the boy could only mutter the same thing about the boy too.

"Well you were also pretty cool there too, I guess."

"HAHAHA!"

The boy now known as Sogiita Gunha laughed very heartedly at that.

"Well you sure did helped me at that time."

And so, both of the spiky haired boys laughed for an indefinite number of minutes, until Touma abruptly stopped, it was getting really awkward, and it was also getting even more late.

No time for dilly dallying when your head is on the line.

"I think I need to go now, I still have something to do back at my dorm."

Kamijou said frantically as he started to run towards the opposite direction.

"Wait!"

Gunha shouted, Touma flinched a little as he abruptly stopped.

"What now!?"

He was now getting more agitated, truthfully, he didn't really care about what happened to his eggs anymore, like any normal living being, he values his life more. Just ignore what happened a while ago, please!

"I need to give you something!"

Gunha took some strange object in his blazer.

It was, a book?

Touma was now a bit curious, the bandana wearing boy didn't really look like the type who would carry books around.

But before he could say anything more about it, the boy threw the book in a parabolical ark, it would land precisely were Touma was.

Touma was a bit surprised by it, fortunately, or unfortunately? He was already used to surprising situations.

He was about to instinctively catch it with his right arm, but for some odd reason, a weird feeling of hesitation filled his entire body, like something in the back of his mind was telling him to not use his right arm.

He felt this same kind of sensation when he borrowed that lucky charm from that certain girl.

Trusting it, he held back his right arm and used his other arm the catch the rapidly closing object.

With a soft tuff, it was now in his left hand, now with the said object in his hands, he carefully examined it, trying to not let his right hand accidentally touch it.

The book was hard bound, oddly even in this futuristic city, people still used books and paper as a medium for education and other things.

Other than that, the title of the book was in english, Kamijou wasn't too fluent in the language, but he still understood some words, simple words to be exact.

 **The legend of heroes**

Simple and minimalistic, like it was intended for grade schoolers.

"What's this?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Touma stared back up to the book thrower.

"It's a book."

Gunha casually pointed out.

"Yeah! I know it's a book! What I mean is what do I do with this!?"

Touma was now getting even more impatient, now he knows how it feels to be that other guy from before.

"Oh? About that. You know that electric girl, right?"

Kamijou scratched his head again. Electric girl? A sweat drop formed on his head, realizing who it was the guy was talking about.

"Electric girl? You mean sparky?"

Sogiita nodded.

"Yeah, yeah! You see that book isn't really mine. While I was going about with my gutsy business, I saw her drop that when she electrocuted some non gutsy thugs, I was about to return it to her when this gutsy fellow just randomly attacked me."

He pointed towards the unconscious fellow lying on the street.

"So, what you're saying is?"

The boy gave a thumbs up and a smile that rivaled the moon. Rivaled the moon as in smiled just as big and bright, and not in a romantic way of course.

"Eh!? Why do I have to be the one to give it? As you can clearly see, this Kamijou here only has a mortal body, susceptible to cuts, burns, and electric shocks! Why can't you do it? You're the one here with the nigh indestructible body!"

The boy complained, but it only fell on deaf ears.

"Sorry! I still have a lots of gutsy business to do, plus, I heard that you're going to volunteer inside the school garden for some janitorial duties!"

"Hey! How do you know that!? And why are you so sure that I am going to be there!? And for the last time theres nothing voluntary about that! And what do you mean by 'gutsy business'!? That's so ambiguous! It feels more like you're just going to go a top at random buildings and shout 'guts' repeatedly!

Kamijou was at a lost for words, more like the opposite to be exact.

But before he could retort even more, the wannabe hero suddenly disappeared, only leaving an afterimage in the place he should have been.

A crudely written single note was lying on the ground.

 _You can do this, being a janitor at school garden of course!_

 _-With love and guts from Sogiita Gunha._

 _PS. Overcome anything with Guts!_

"Hey where did you go!? And what the hell is this!? Don't just leave me here with your unfinished work! I take everything back, theres nothing gutsy about you! You faker! And at least call it as 'sanitation engineer'!"

The boy could only slumped in defeat, why did he have to suffer this?

He was about to move away from the place when one of his feet hit something.

"Oh yeah."

There was also that other guy who got knocked out. He was going to call anti-skill on the guy, but he realized that the local law enforcement agency was already closed at this time. Seriously though, whats up with that?

Not knowing why they have that kind of policy, he just called for the next best thing he could think of, an ambulance.

What? The guy's injured, kind of. Well, a strong concussion that can make people unconscious is pretty dangerous. Better be safe than sorry I suppose.

Sighing again for the day, he's not really getting younger this way, he went to where he left his groceries, after checking their contents again, or lack there off, some got thrown away from the explosion, and some, well, it's better to just not talk about it.

He gave a small whimper at the pitiful contents.

He also checked his phone for the time. It already really late in the night. He still had a lot of things to do after he gets back to his dorm. Heh! Who needs sleep anyways!

The boy already knew what was going to happen to him when he gets home.

Carefully wedging the certain book in the back of his pants, and lifting the bags of food, he went on his way towards the general location of his dorm.

Maybe he should ask the freeloader about this book.

The certain object had a very strange and ominous feeling about it.

Glancing upwards to the moon. The boy strengthened his almost dying resolve.

What a beautiful night this is.

* * *

What a misfortunate night this is.

Kamijou Touma was now prone in his bathtub, his whole body was now aching like crazy. His entire body was covered by something that can only be called as 'injuries'.

Not because of some obligatory training montages or random fights with thugs, it was none of those cliche comic book stuff.

The real reason was well because after he got home, he had to start preparing dinner, sure, that itself was already hard to do, add in the balancing act of a nun biting down on your head, and then it becomes a whole different level.

After bandaging the bite and occasional claw marks in his body, he still has homework to do, so he had to use his secret weapon, something he only uses when it is absolutely necessary.

He had to use, ' _God of Misfortune_ ' mode!

Just by using this for one hour, it would already shorten your lifespan for three years! Or you would be so tired that it would feel that way. And with a speed that would make a saint blush, he had finally finish it! Take that, 'volunteer' work!

And so now we find our boy resting in his cold, hard bath tub, well it's better than sleeping on the floor.

That was until he tried leaning back on the sides, a hard and edgy feeling came upon his back.

Using his left hand to yank it from the back of his pants, he glared intently at it.

He had forgotten about the book! He was going to ask about this to his roommate, but he guess he never had the time, and also he pretty much forgot about it till now.

There were a lot of thing he was sure he had forgotten to do today, putting the book aside, like taking a bath, or brushing his teeth.

Listlessly staring at the open window, a single and simple sentence, a line of words that the boy would surely regret thinking about in the foreboding future.

Laziness was after all, comes before misfortune.

"Meh. Hygiene and the book can wait for tomorrow."

He casually tossed the book aside. Not caring where it landed.

And with that, the boy favored by fate to mess with, silently went to the land of dreams.

Not knowing what it has in store for him.


End file.
